Link: http://blogs.gartner.com/mike-rollings/2011/11/02/steve-jobs-preparing-us-for-one-more-thing/
From Mike Rollings
This weekend I read Steve Jobs eulogy written by his sister Mona Simpson. Anyone with a beating heart can appreciate it and will be touched by it. The love shared between them is apparent, as is the love he had for his family and his life’s work. Yet he was always preparing us for one more thing. His last words were “OH WOW. OH WOW.OH WOW.”
Our lives are a series of one more thing. We start as a child, become adults, and are shaped by our many experiences. The experiences shape us, but our minds play a critical role in how they shape us. Are we actively listening and choosing how those experiences shape us, or are we just along for the ride with a less intentional mind? Intentional isn’t always associated with an act of malice. It’s not the only use of the word. Doing things intentionally is to do things on purpose or as I prefer, with purpose. It is not the free ride through life, but instead it is intentionality that puts you in the driver’s seat. Steve Jobs epitomized intentionality and I can only imagine that his choice of last words was purposeful to give us all something to contemplate.
However, beyond the contemplation of last words, Steve Jobs life brings into light the inspection of one’s own intentionality and perception. If you are not doing things intentionally then your intentions are defined solely by how others perceive you. The actions taken intentionally tell a story as do those actions that are not. As we act unintentionally, we give others the opportunity to define our intentionality for us. Their perception of our actions, to them, is our intention. What do your actions tell others about your intentions?
Since the majority of my readers are IT professionals, I’ll frame this in an IT view. Examining intentions can have profound implications on what you choose to do today and tomorrow. It is a matter of what we each choose to do with it. Is our intention to do things the way we have always done them and to be known as ‘the builders and creators’, or to reframe our actions in today’s context – to be businesspeople and partners – engaging, brokering services, and innovating? Is it our intention to have the IT department viewed as the controllers who feel entitled to do technology-related work, or is it to intentionally help our business succeed, to realize we aren’t the only ones with technological ideas, and to make a solid contribution in the flow of business?
Our intentionality will define what is next in our future, and I’m thankful for being reminded of its importance.
